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Re: Back to basics: a few questions about colons in XMLnames

• From: Michael Kay <mike@saxonica.com>
• To: xml-dev@lists.xml.org
• Date: Mon, 08 Nov 2010 21:15:51 +0000

> QUESTIONS:
>
> 1. Are all XML processors namespace-aware? That is, do all XML processors understand the colon in a name as a delimiter between a namespace prefix and a local name?
I'm pretty sure if you look hard enough you can find a product that is 
(or that can be configured as) a non-namespace-aware XML processor.  But 
such a component isn't needed very often nowadays so you might have to 
look quite hard.
> 2. Are there XML processors that are namespace-unaware? That is, are there XML processors that treat colons as just another character?
Isn't that the same question?
> 3. Is namespace checking (checking that each prefix is bound to a namespace) a separate activity from XML checking?
Yes.
> Is there such a thing as a namespace processor? If so, are XML instance documents first checked by an XML processor and then by a namespace processor:
>
> XML instance document -->  XML processor -->  namespace processor
The namespaces Rec doesn't choose to use the term "namespace processor"; 
rather it describes namespace processing as a task optionally performed 
by an XML processor. But it's certainly something that could be done as 
a separate activity, just as validation can.
> 4. When we talk about an "XML processor" do we really mean XML processor + namespace processor"?
Depends who's talking. Most people don't talk about XML processors, they 
talk about XML parsers.
> 5. Consider the task of checking that "ex:" is bound to a namespace. Is that an XML processor task? Or, is that a task for a higher-level application; e.g., a namespace processor?

See above
> 6. If the ex in<ex:Comment>  is not bound to a namespace, is that really an XML well-formedness error?
No, it is a violation of namespace-well-formedness.

Michael Kay
Saxonica

• References:
  • Back to basics: a few questions about colons in XML names
    • From: "Costello, Roger L." <costello@mitre.org>